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Before working for Radiolab, Andy had a lot of jobs, from being a research journalist in Southern Sudan to making fancy lattes in Denver, Colorado. To date he’s been a dishwasher, groundskeeper, paper boy, photographer, fund raiser, camp counselor, fast food burger-flipper, janitor, gardener, roofer, bus boy, missionary, ice cream scooper, barista, nanny, assistant professor, monk, equipment manager, waiter, television production assistant, secretary, painter and K-Mart Santa Clause. Now, when not producing stories for the radio, he writes short stories, performs live storytelling multi-media shows, and rides his bicycle all over New York City.

Comments [12]

Liz
from So Calif

Magnificent. Thank you for this--yes it is very zen. Watching the muscles ripple as energy moves throughout her body, all in just a flash. Only way to really appreciate it is in super slo-mo so again thank you.

Another commenter mentioned that this zoo and Sarah the cheetah were in HuffPo awhile back and I did see that, but this brings the cheetah's physiology into the art form it is and let's us appreciate it so much more fully. Many thanks.

in reply to frank patrick: i'm sorry but to me, that sounds like nothing but human arrogance/ego centrism. if you really think you can design a machine that moves with this same fluid grace, DO IT! it'd likely be an idea that could profit millions in some way. i think what you saw was the track that was dragging the toy the CHEETAH was chasing. you're lending too much of your human faults to a cheetah to assume it'd get frustrated and misplace it's aggression, real creatures of nature don't do that, because they know failure is a part of life.

Gorgeous. When I was in South Africa at the wild cat rehab center, one of the cheetahs trotted from the rear of his enclosure to the front, a distance similar to what's seen in this video, and even at quarter speed it was difficult to process how fast he was.

The trick is given away during the credits. Those two guys at the end of the run are actually controlling the mechanical cat with a remote. Otherwise, wouldn't a real cat be frustrated after the run and attack them?

Two things to note: 1.) Not only is the cheetah the fastest land animal, but one of the cheetahs in that video, Sarah, is in fact the world's fastest cheetah. She's amazing: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/03/fastest-cheetah-breaks-record-video_n_1736862.html

2.) You can see these cheetahs run, in person, in one of the coolest zoo shows I have every seen. They do it EVERY SINGLE DAY during the summer at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, which is an amazing place well worth the trip. Seeing this video is all the more awesome because I have seen that cheetah run in real time. It's blindingly fast, and just as beautiful.

Wow!! the first 1.5 minutes is actually 1.84 seconds?!!!! How many times does the cat's legs even touch the ground???? Can any human even move any appendage that fast? Are a hummingbird's wings faster?? Just some thoughts that come to mind. #MIND BLOWN.